Something is either a security risk or it isn’t. Regardless, exports taxes are illegal.
The reckless lawlessness of the Trump Administration continues with an illegal export tax.
Truth Social: I have informed President Xi, of China, that the United States will allow NVIDIA to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China, and other Countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security. President Xi responded positively! $25% will be paid to the United States of America. This policy will support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers. The Biden Administration forced our Great Companies to spend BILLIONS OF DOLLARS building “degraded” products that nobody wanted, a terrible idea that slowed Innovation, and hurt the American Worker. That Era is OVER! We will protect National Security, create American Jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI. NVIDIA’s U.S. Customers are already moving forward with their incredible, highly advanced Blackwell chips, and soon, Rubin, neither of which are part of this deal. My Administration will always put America FIRST. The Department of Commerce is finalizing the details, and the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Trump approved the deal if Nvidia agreed to pay 25 percent to the US government.
That’s an export tax.
Please consider ArtI.S9.C5.1 Export Clause and Taxes
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from laying taxes and duties on articles exported from any state. Known as the Export Clause, it applies to taxes and duties, not user fees.The Supreme Court has interpreted the Export Clause to address shipments only to foreign countries, not shipments to unincorporated territories, such as Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Trump’s action is unconstitutional. As usual, Trump does not give a damn.
Nvidia would win this lawsuit easily. However, Trump would then declare chip exports to be a national security risk.
Trump’s Unconstitutional Export Tax Is Probably Here to Stay
On August 18, CATO reported Trump’s Unconstitutional Export Tax Is Probably Here to Stay
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS IMPOSED a “deal” on chip manufacturers Nvidia and AMD under which they are required to pay the U.S. government 15 percent of revenue earned from computer chip sales to China. Nvidia will do so on sales of its H20 chip, while AMD will be required to pay that percentage of sales of its MI308 chip.
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution states that “No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.” The Supreme Court has interpreted this broadly to require “not simply an omission of a tax upon the articles exported, but also a freedom from any tax which directly burdens” exports. Trump’s appropriation of 15 percent of the two firms’ revenue from chip sales to China surely qualifies as such a tax.
The fact that the payments are part of a “deal” with the Trump administration also does not make them constitutional. The executive cannot impose an otherwise unconstitutional tax merely because it has reached an agreement to do so.
The purpose of barring chip sales to China in the first place was, supposedly, to prevent that country’s government from acquiring materials that might endanger U.S. national security. If these chip sales really do imperil security, then the 15 percent tax does little to stave off the threat, as the Chinese government will surely pay the extra money needed to secure an important military advantage. And if they do not, then the Trump administration cannot constitutionally use an imaginary threat as a pretext for imposing an illegal tax on exporters.
The imposition of this unconstitutional export tax must be viewed in the context of Trump’s broader effort to usurp the power of taxation from Congress with respect to international trade. He has also tried to illegally use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA)—a law that does not even mention tariffs—to impose the most extensive tariffs since the Great Depression, potentially costing Americans trillions of dollars in tax payments.
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says U.S. Will Allow Nvidia H200 Chip Sales to China, Get 25% Cut
“I have informed President Xi of China that the United States will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries under conditions that allow for strong national security,” Trump said on Truth Social. He added: “25% will be paid to the United States of America.”
In August, Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said that “if geopolitical issues subside,” the company could ship between $2 billion and $5 billion of chips to China per quarter, which could increase if orders pick up.
NVDA rose 2 percent after hours. Is that all this deal is worth?
I wonder if a third party can file a lawsuit, say a an aggrieved shareholder, someone who feels the government is stealing Nvidia profits (which is precisely what Trump is doing).
Government Central Planning
Trump is fond of government central planning as long as he is the conductor.
If Biden did anything like this, howls would be heard to the moon.
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I believe Trump should lose 9-0 but he won’t. However, I do think he loses 6-3 or possibly 7-2.
See the above article for my rationale.
Trump sells out our national security for a 25% unconstitutional tariff on chips and denies our military or military contractors access to rare earths.
Who does Trump work for?
PedoPig shouldn’t poke at the bubble that’s holding up his raggedy economy…
It is facism, pure and simple. People refuse to accept that is what Trump and his admin are. Go read a little history of Mussolini and his cadre in Italy in the 1920s and 30s.
The dumbest fascism ever to make it this far.
Today’s humans have no time to understand history, they are too busy caving in the faces of their enemies.
It says congress though, not POTUS. He can label it as a security clearance fee or whatever.
As a move though, it’s actually one of the few good things Trump has achieved. Nvidia’s chips are in high demand and there is no real substitute outside of China. Might as well milk the cow for all its worth while the AI mania continues. Even if the tax is raised to 100%, the pool of buyers would not shrink.
Hopefully the Supreme Court will start levying export taxes too!
Yet another attempt to encourage China to develop its own capability.
Whose side is he on?
It’s better for China develop its own capability than for the West to continue developing China’s capability that is being used against the West.
Ironic statement given that most chips are manufactured in Asia and technically by China already although it’s called Taiwan.
How is it being used against the West?
The System Has No ReverseTrump called affordability a ‘Democratic hoax.’ He’s half right
https://www.americasundoing.com/p/the-system-has-no-reverse
This article explains Trump perfectly! There is nothing further to say…
—-
Can he be a child molester if he’s still a child?
Sick question.
He is a child molester and rapist. It’s not funny or cute.
If the products using those chips are then imported, then they will have effectively been double taxed.
Would it not be much easier to list the “legal” things taco has done? The list could not exceed one page, double spaced.
Comrade Taco
If Trump was on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, plotting to do deviant sexually deviant things with children, and it happened in international airspace, was it legal due to a lack of legal jurisdiction or was it bound by international law?
Economically, it’s clearly an export taxe. Legally—given present SCOTUS—it may fly as a license fee. Either way, it looks like a Mafiosi operation.
After the 15% export tax was placed on H20 chips, the Chinese government “discouraged” their purchase from Nvidia and encouraged Chinese companies to buy local. A few private businesses that do not deal with the government bought some H20 chips. But not very many.
I expect a similar response from China for H200 chips as well.
Along with China developing their own equivalent or better chips in a few years.
So instead of having a steady customer base who wouldn’t develop their own chips to compete world wide with ours we’ll lose those sales and eventually split the world wide customer base.
Other people problems.
Exactly right. Except China will have five companies, competing hard on price and features, blowing NVDA out of the water. The USA will then put tariffs on Chinese chips while importing its chips from Taiwan.
China can get those chips no matter what “bans” are put in place.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/us-attorneys-office-southern-district-of-texas-prosecutors-nvidia-chips-h200-h100-smuggle-china.html
When sanctions or bans are put in, black markets develop to fill the void.
Huawei builds ML accelerators that are about 75% as fast as the H200 Nvidia GPU that His Orangeness allowed for export to China. They may not be as fast, but, being cheaper, the Chinese can just buy more of them and end with better performance of their installed base.
China forbade the use of Nvidia GPUs accusing the chip maker of adding backdoors. Thanks to such a mandate and His Orangeness, the ML accelerator industry in China is booming. There are more such companies in China than in all the West combined. Guess where innovation will come from?
If Costco is successful with their tariff lawsuit, expect other companies to follow. 1139 more days until Trump is history.
Maybe he amended the constitution by EO. /s
Nah, it’s more like those Mar-a-Lago top secret documents…
Trump merely needs to think about it & viola:
the consitution is whatever he says it is.